


Concern for the Youth

by taxpayingamerican



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Character Study, Gen, dog person connor, on all the murphys but mostly connor, tags will be added as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 14:33:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13977126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taxpayingamerican/pseuds/taxpayingamerican
Summary: As a kid Connor Murphy begged for a dog. When he got older he gave up on that hope, he gave up on a lot. Not wanting to lose her boy, Cynthia signed him up to volunteer at an animal shelter, hoping to bring her boy back.





	1. Chapter 1

When Connor Murphy was a little boy he begged his parents every single day for a dog. It was on every single Christmas list, asked for at every single birthday, and he even had a jar filled with crumpled ones and quarters to eventually buy his own dog. His parents, however, were less enthusiastic about any sort of pet, let alone a dog. His sister Zoe had been given a hamster for Christmas by their grandparents. His name had been Carrots. Unfortunately, Carrots Murphy had a tragically short stay, after Zoe set him loose in the house and Larry Murphy found hamster crap in his shoes. That was the last furry addition to the Murphy household for a while.  
Connor eventually gave up on his hopes for a dog. Eventually, Connor gave up on his hopes for much of anything. Junior year had become depressingly monotonous. Connor found himself spending most of his time sleeping and smoking pot. The times he did speak to his family it was short and aggressive. Kids at school picked on him, teachers were harsh, and most everything just sucked.  
Cynthia Murphy felt her boy slipping more and more each day. She bought every single book about troubled teens, she read every online blog, she did everything she could to reach out to him. It only seemed to drive him away further. After seeing the toll junior year took on her boy, Cynthia really wanted to work this summer on bringing him back. She had read somewhere, some book or blog, that animal therapy helped with mental health problems. She remembered how Connor had so desperately wanted a dog, and maybe if she couldn’t bring a dog to Connor, she can bring Connor to the dogs.

“I’m in trouble.” Connor said. It wasn’t a question, he knew when his mother was on edge. She had called him down to the living room and just told him to get on his shoes. Maybe she was dropping him off at some group home or rehab center.  
“No, Connor you aren’t in trouble. Just get your shoes we’re going out. Just us.” Cynthia smiled at him. Connor hated his mother’s smile. It didn’t look genuine, it looked forced and a little sad. Still, he didn’t argue. If there was one thing Connor hated more than his mothers fake smile, it was when she showed real disappointment. Connor grabbed the pair of shoes he kept by the door and slipped them on. His mother grabbed her purse and lead him to the car.  
“Where are we going?” Connor asked. This whole situation was… unusual. Connor had thought he was just going to get the usual ‘I-was-cleaning-your-room-and-found-this’ talk or maybe a brochure to a new retreat she found online.  
“I know things have been hard. And I know you feel angry and like we don’t understand. But, sweetie, I am trying, okay? I want you to know that, that I’m here for you and that I want to do everything I can.” Cynthia kept her eyes on the road, tears forming. Connor didn’t know how to respond. He knew she meant what she was saying, that she was there to help, he just wasn’t sure if he was even able to be helped.  
“Okay.” Connor looked out the window, not really wanting to continue the conversation. Cynthia took the hint and switched on the radio. The rest of the ride was silent, which was nice. Connor actually liked car rides, watching the scenery go by was comfortably mind numbing. He felt his eyes go a bit heavy, so he leaned against the window and closed his eyes.  
“We’re here!” Cynthia nudged Connor awake. He rubbed his eyes and looked at where exactly ‘Here’ was.  
“Pals with Paws Rescue Shelter”  
“Oh. Cool.” Connor, still relapsed from the nap, didn’t really know what they were doing at the shelter or how to match his mother’s excitement.  
“Remember? When you were a little boy, all you wanted was a dog! Oh, you begged and begged, and I would try to talk your dad into it, but he wouldn’t budge. So instead, I signed us up as volunteers! I thought it’d be a fun thing for us to do this summer!” Cynthia was beaming. This was the first time Conner had seen her excited, really excited, about something. He really didn’t want to let her down on this. He would try.  
“Yeah, mom. This’ll be cool.”


	2. Chapter 2

Connor and Cynthia were given the rundown about what their job was from the coordinator of the shelter’s volunteer program, Jenny.  
“What your main job is, is to take this list and take photos of all the dogs to send in to be posted on our website, my email is right here. We also encourage our volunteers to share photos on their own social media to help spread the word, I know kids these days are on twitter a lot?” Jenny eyed Connor.  
“Um, yeah I guess so.” Connor wasn’t too sure what kid’s popular kids on the internet did, he mostly argued with people on various image boards. He could post some dog pictures there maybe.  
“Great! You could post them they’re with the shelters name and address. Now normally when we take the dogs out we like to bring them to one of the fenced enclosures outside, so they can get some sun and exercise, would you two be okay with doing that?”  
“Yes of course!” Cynthia beamed. Spending the day playing with dogs is what she imagined every boy’s dream to be. Jenny smiled right back at her.  
“Perfect! Here’s your list,” she handed Connor a clipboard and pen “Here’s some treats,” she handed a lumpy fanny pack to Cynthia “Leashes are hanging next to all the kennels and there’s plastic baggies outside by the trash can.”  
“Oh, baggies for what?” Cynthia asked, but Jenny was already speed walking to another pair of volunteers.  
“For the dog shit probably,” Connor told his mother. She grimaced slightly.

The front half of the shelter was relatively inviting, families were waiting in colorful plastic chairs like the ones they had in elementary school, some with dogs some not. The walls were painted with creepy murals of dogs smiling with human teeth to make them look less threating maybe. Connor just thought it made them look unsettling. Cynthia and Connor went behind the front desk through a door marked ‘Staff and Volunteers Only’ to the back half of the shelter.  
This part was actually depressing. The florescent lights were dimly flickering above the rows and rows of kennels. Each kennel had about one to three dogs barking wildly inside. They were sorted by age, puppies on the left, seniors on the right, and adults in between the two. The staff was showing some families around, they were all mostly looking at puppies.  
Cynthia looked at her son, worried that maybe this sight was somehow making him more depressed. Connors face was blank, his eyes scanning the room.  
“We have ten dogs.” He said.  
“Pardon?” Cynthia looked at her boy.  
“Ten dogs. Our first one is number 23, she’s a senior named Hattie.” Connor turned to the right to look for Hattie, Cynthia followed closely behind, not looking at all the sad eyes.  
Hattie was an older retriever, with a silver coat and big brown eyes. Cynthia grabbed the leash by her kennel and turned to let the dog out. Connor had beaten her to the punch, he was crouched low speaking gently to Hattie and scratching behind her ears. Cynthia took a moment to observe the scene; she hadn’t seen Connor look that… soft, not in a very long time. Hattie seemed to enjoy the attention. She placed her head on his thigh letting out a small huff. Connor couldn’t help but grin  
“She’s good.” He said, looking up and smiling (smiling!) at his mother. Cynthia smiled back.  
“Yeah, she is.” This was good, this was going to work.

 

Cynthia sat on a bench outside, truly believing she was witnessing a miracle. They were on their fifth or sixth dog, some collie mix named Chips, and for the first time in a long time Connor was having genuine fun. Currently, he and Chips were in the middle of a very intense game of tug of war. He was covered in dog hair and dirt, his hair had a couple of grass strands tangled in, but he was laughing and playing like Cynthia had never seen before. Chips appeared to have the upper hand and tackled Connor, he let out a surprised grunt but proceeded to wrestle with the dog. Cynthia tried to subtly snap a few pictures on her phone both for the shelter and her personal use. She had quite the collection so far: Connor getting aggressively licked by some tiny terroir, Connor playing chase with a greyhound, Connor trying to teach a husky to howl, there was no way Larry was going to believe what Cynthia was seeing. 

 

They finished up with the rest of the dogs later that evening. Connor of course adored every one of them. Jenny took back her clipboard and thanked the two for their time.  
“That was fun, huh?” Cynthia asked Connor after they had gotten into the car.   
“Yeah, it was cool.” Connor really did enjoy his time there, he thought it’d be depressing to spend the day with a bunch of sad dogs. Instead he had the best time he’s had in a long time. Connor never really felt like he had the chance to just let loose and have fun, he felt like he always had a million eyes on him, waiting for his next blow up. He didn’t feel that today, dogs don’t have that kind of judgement in them. They were just dogs.  
“I had a lot of fun,” Cynthia said, “We can come back next week?” Connor smiled slightly to himself.  
“Yeah. I think I’d like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave comments if you enjoyed pls i crave validation. you can also follow my tumblr @taxpayingcuckold

**Author's Note:**

> my first deh fic (and my first multi chapter fic) let me know what y'all think!  
> talk to me on tumblr @taxpayingcuckold


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